Plzeň today rejected the construction of a giant shopping center

Plzeň - Plzeň has rejected the construction of a shopping center in the middle of the city, which the citizens do not want according to the January referendum. Representatives of the city hall stated this today at a public hearing on the zoning procedure. Today was the last deadline for filing objections. The investor, Amádeus Plzeň a.s., according to the city hall, did not meet the regulatory conditions and did not prove ownership rights to the affected plots of land. The city hall stated that it would respect the results of the referendum, which obliged its authorities to use legal means to prevent the construction. The building authority is not obliged to accept the city's position when making its decision.
     "We will wait for the establishment of all the objections mentioned today in the administrative file and subsequently position ourselves on them in the form of a qualified submission," said the investor's representative Jan Petřík. According to him, it is clear from the objections that a "targeted harassment" of the project has already started from all parties involved, including the city. The objections raised at the meeting had essentially one purpose, which was to complicate the proceedings, obstruct, delay the proceedings, or postpone the decision indefinitely, he added.
     Representatives of the preparatory committee of the referendum and other civic associations today demanded the termination of the public hearing due to the bias of the city secretary and the Plzeň building authority. "Another building authority should decide on this (zoning procedure), because the mayor is by law over all employees of the city hall, appoints and dismisses the secretary who appoints and dismisses the heads of administrative departments," said the representative of the referendum organizers Martin Marek from the civic association Plzeňané.
     According to him, the same officials are carrying out tasks for the city in separate activities while simultaneously performing the transferred exercise of state administration, which is the case of the giant building Corso Americká. Tomáš Benda from the building authority stated that he would immediately forward the objection to the superior regional building authority, which will decide within 60 days. If bias is recognized, the public hearing will be repeated.
     The deputy Petr Rund (ODS) on behalf of the city disagreed with the issuance of the zoning decision. "The crucial thing we learned today is from the statement of the deputy mayor Rund, that Amádeus did not meet the regulatory conditions and did not break down the planned construction into smaller blocks, thus failing to fulfill the resolution of the city council," stated Marek. Therefore, according to Marek, the city can already today terminate the contract for the marginal plots that the investor has leased until June 30 of this year. "The city hall must withdraw from the contract because it is bound by the referendum. And then the zoning procedure should be immediately canceled," Marek stated. Amádeus would not be able to demonstrate ownership relationships to all the plots and would have to modify the project.
     According to the activists, the impact of the construction on the landscape character was also not assessed within the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment), which is evaluated by law even in urban development. Subsequently, the region ordered the investor to have it carried out in the zoning proceedings, which did not happen.
     The office must express itself on the zoning procedure within 30 days. "It can be interrupted and then call on the applicant to supplement the documentation, or it can stop and thus conclude, or issue a positive zoning decision," stated Marek.